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SOTF Mini Core Rules
Greetings and welcome to SOTF Mini. Over the years, our rules have become notably more complicated than they once were, so in the interests of remaining easily approachable to new members we have compiled this document which sums them all up in narrative form. This post covers all the rules on Mini in enough detail to handle most situations in typical site activity. We draft rues, however, to cover edge cases, close loopholes, and preemptively neutralize potential for abuse. As such, each rule in this document is linked to a more complete, technical rendition of the rule. The staff will enforce to these more precise rules in cases of conflict. We are SOTF Mini, a roleplaying site inspired by but no longer based on Battle Royale, a novel by Koushun Takami. Our parent site has around since 2005, and Mini has been in operation since 2010. Mini consists of three primary universes (The Program, SOTF-TV, and Second Chances) and a potentially limitless number of secondary ones, each with special rules and assumptions. The first and most important rule on Mini is to behave with courtesy and respect, on the board and on all related sites. We welcome members of at least thirteen years of age. We do not require any personal information from members, but we do require that any information volunteered be accurate. We allow only one account per user; unlike many RPs, we do not use a separate account for each character. Due to past difficulties involving banned members attempting to circumvent their suspensions, we require that you not use proxy servers to log into the site. SOTF Mini lies somewhere between a traditional internet roleplay and a collaborative writing project. To participate in Mini, you must submit a character, following a specific template. Staff will then provide a critique of your character, almost certainly requesting adjustments and elaborations be made. Our critique process is stringent because the universes of Mini adhere to certain standards of realism. For most games, we want all characters to be believable high school students. This is a notable departure from many RPs, as player characters on Mini are typically not exceptionally skilled, powerful, or unusual compared to anyone else in the world. While Battle Royale, The Hunger Games, and many other works in the genre skew towards a more exaggerated and cinematic style, Mini does not. We have nothing against such games, but characters designed in their style will be unlikely to meet with success in Mini, or indeed to be accepted by staff. Characters may not be direct inserts of pre-existing characters not created by their player or of celebrities and may not be named after real people without the express permission of those people. Taking inspiration, in character concepts and in writing, is fine, but if it crosses the line into plagiarism, you will be in serious trouble. If you disagree with anything requested of you in your critique, you may respectfully PM the staff member critiquing you to explain your case. Staffers are reasonable people, and sometimes they do make mistakes. If you cannot reach an understanding with the staff member critiquing you, you may appeal their decision to the staff team as a collective. Please do not do so unless you truly feel you are being treated unfairly; unless your treatment is indeed unjust, the staff team will back up the ruling of the individual staff member. Most games on Mini are divided into two phases: the game proper and a prologue detailing the characters’ lives before their abductions. This prologue, referred to as "Sandbox" (or occasionally “Pregame”) is not mandatory but is highly recommended. Sandbox lasts for an amount of time before the game begins depending on staff availability and general interest. Characters need only be submitted once; a character cleared to appear in Sandbox is cleared for the game proper, though a later roll-call may be conducted to verify continuing handler interest.. When the game starts, Sandbox soon comes to a close. SOTF Mini typically allows players to control up to two characters at a time during each version. Generally speaking, you may not replace characters who die in the game, though in certain rare circumstances you may adopt an inactive character or be given a character by another player, assuming your activity record is good and the addition does not bring you above the two-character limit. Versions of SOTF Mini run to completion, meaning in most cases the death of all but a single character participating in the game. We decide which characters die through a system known as “rolls.” Rolls are when the staff randomly selects a number of characters (with the amount determined by the stage of the game), who must then die within a certain timeframe. Every character has an equal chance to be selected, though until the final set of rolls, no player may have more than one of their characters selected for death in any given set of rolls. Rolls occur approximately once every two weeks. You may also kill any of your own characters at any time, regardless of whether they are rolled or not. There are a few ways to save rolled characters. Each player receives a Swap Card and a Hero Card. Using your Swap Card allows you to substitute one of your unrolled characters for one of your rolled ones, dying in their place. Using your Hero Card allows you to substitute one of your unrolled characters for one of another player’s rolled ones. All cards must be played within three days of the posting of rolls. You may not take back playing a card unless someone else plays one of their own cards in a way that renders yours moot. Pestering players of rolled characters asking to kill their characters is expressly forbidden; send requests for kills only to those players who have indicated that they are interested in such requests. Similarly, request that your character be saved only through a single post in the rolls thread, not through chat, PMs, or repeated posts. SOTF requires that all characters be posted with at least once per two-week period. Characters who are not posted with during such a span of time become inactive and may be given to other players or killed at staff discretion. If you cannot post for any period of time, post in the Away thread found in the Roleplaying Discussion forum and your absence will not be counted against you. In Sandbox, there is no inactivity. A writing format consisting primarily of third person past tense is required for overall readability. We also ask that you proofread for spelling and grammar and avoid the use of formatting that makes your writing difficult or impossible to read. You may have your characters engage in any actions within the bounds of realism for the setting, though if your scene includes particularly graphic content you should mark it as such so that nobody stumbles into it by mistake. There are certain subjects, including abuse, inappropriate sexual relationships, and extreme violence or cruelty outside the context of the death game, that have the potential to be extremely offensive and inappropriate and should generally be avoided. You may not control other people’s characters, directly or indirectly without their express permission. You may not control staff-created non-player characters without the staff team’s express permission. While in general any sort of death realistic to the setting is allowed, any death involving the detonation of a character’s collar must be submitted to staff in draft form at least three days in advance of its deadline and subsequently approved. The games are set up in a series of forums, each describing and representing an area of the arena. Making large-scale changes to areas requires staff permission. Each area may have only one active thread at a time during the game. You may post a one-shot (a thread consisting of a single post in which your character both enters and leaves an area) even if there is another active thread, but you must make sure that the content of your post will not in any way contradict that of the active thread and you may not post multiple one-shots in a row. Sandbox areas may contain any number of active threads. Anyone may join any thread during the game, though it is poor etiquette to enter a thread marked “Private” without permission. In Sandbox, joining Private threads without permission is forbidden. Characters may be in only one thread at a time in-game, and may be in only one present, one memory, and one event thread at a time in Sandbox. When your character enters or leaves a thread, note where they’re coming from or going to so other players are aware of what they have done. Periodically, certain areas will be marked either permanently or temporarily off-limits during the game. If your character is in one of these areas, you will have three days to conclude your thread and a further seven to make a final post exiting it. Failure to exit after the ten days will result in your character being killed. Characters in the game are each assigned certain supplies and a random weapon and most of their other possessions are confiscated. Characters may scrounge for various items that could reasonably be found around the arena (though no weapons are ever left lying about) but any materials, no matter how minor, that are to be used in an escape attempt must be cleared with staff and their projected usage for such must be noted. Characters may attempt to escape the game. This is a very complicated and difficult process, and as such any players considering having their characters attempt escape should read the applicable rules thoroughly. Characters who successfully escape will be no longer be subject to rolls. Characters who fail to enact their plans successfully will likely encounter serious hazards, and may be barred from further escape attempts. Should your character be one of the final handful surviving, the activity and death rules change slightly, and a winner is determined either by consensus or by rolls. Should your character win or otherwise survive the game, there are specific procedures in place to follow when continuing their story. Both of these occurrences are uncommon enough that you shouldn’t worry about them too much in advance. Each Mini universe has a long and varied history with a wide range of past characters and events. Reading past characters and games, as well as outside lore writing where applicable, is a great way to get a feel for Mini and its worlds and overall stories, but the only required reading is these rules, the threads you are participating in, and the announcements posted while you are playing the game. There are a number of miscellaneous, niche, or minor rules, but these tend to apply to very specific or hypothetical situations and are not general-use. Finally, a word of advice: SOTF Mini is a game and story about the journey, not the end point. The vast majority of characters in the game will die, and often they will fail at most of their goals on the way. They will lose friends and loved ones. As a story, ours is quite bleak. If that’s not your cup of tea, that’s totally fine, but please consider very carefully if Mini is the right roleplay for you. Thanks for reading. -The SOTF Mini Staff Category:Game Mechanics